Two Sacramento-Area Men Charged With Home Repair / Reverse Mortgage Scam

This is an old story from the archives, but worth posting anyway. The Sacramento Bee reported back in March, 2006:

• Sacramento County Sheriff's detectives are asking elderly people beware of scams involving reverse mortgages. Two men were arrested [...] on suspicion of scamming a 75-year-old woman out of more than $40,000 from her reverse mortgage, Sgt. R.L. Davis said.

• William Patrick, 62, was presented to the woman as a financial advisor when she was looking at a reverse mortgage to help her escape financial problems. Patrick allegedly told her she needed to do some house repairs in order to qualify, Detective Rick Emerson said.
  "Patrick helped her make decisions," Emerson said.

• He introduced her to Michael Morales, 47, who proceeded with the repairs, charging her three times the amount, Emerson said. He is not a licensed with the state, Emerson said. At one point in 2003, the woman changed her mind about the reverse mortgage but was unable to pay for the repairs and had to move forward on it. Since then Patrick allegedly forged the woman's name to an account and was able to gain access to the money from the reverse mortgage, taking more than $40,000, Davis said.

The criminal charges involved in this case are suspicion of:

1. embezzlement,
2. grand theft,
3. theft from an elder,
4. forgery, and
5. obtaining money under false pretenses.

For more, see Pair arrested in reverse mortgage scam.

Go here , here , here , here , and here for other posts on elder financial abuse.

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